Friday, July 20, 2012

Welcome Gifts

This was our first welcome gift at Shiloh UMC, a Communion chalice and plate. It was handmade by a local artisan.The card read:

"Hope you will enjoy this gift. I know you have been wanting one for a long time.

Love you and Joanne,

The redneck side of your family, Charlene, Codey and Cheyanne; Mary Beth, Greg, Zach, and Emily; Laurie, Lacy, Chelsea, and Katie."

We used the set the first Sunday in July to serve Communion.
Our next gift was this set of bookends, from the Birgbauers. Yes, that's Mickey and Minnie "Jim Shore" bookends for my church office. You can imagine the direction my office decor is heading.  

Monday, July 9, 2012

Shiloh UMC and the Power Outage

On the last Friday in June, we had a storm come through that knocked out power to 10's of thousands of people in Lynchburg and surrounding counties. Trees were snapped off and had fallen on power lines, homes and cars. The word was that power would not be completely restored to homes and businesses for over a week.  The problem of the loss of electricity and AC was compounded by the daytime temperatures reaching over the 100 degree point.
Shiloh UMC was one of the churches fortunate enough to keep its power and air conditioning. So the folks who made it to church on Sunday decided to get cold cuts, cheese, lettuce, tomato, bread and have sandwiches together in the fellowship hall after the morning service.
The lunch worked so well that we decided to come back for dinner. No one really wanted to sit out the afternoon and evening with the heat in the homes. So, Charlene Gallaher worked through the afternoon making several pans of lasagna, trays of garlic bread, and bowls of salad.
During the afternoon, people came in and out of the church to cool down. Some brought their dogs in to let them chill from the heat. Everyone was well behaved, people and pets.
We had quite a few people joining us for diner, even some non-members. It was a good place to come, relax, cool down, enjoy a meal that you couldn't prepare at home, and have a good time.
After dinner we went up into the sanctuary and watched a movie, Ratatouille. It was about 9:30 Sunday night before we finally left the church. The outside temperature had cooled down to the mid 80's.

Thoughout the coming week, people would continue to use the church as a resource and cooling station. Some slept at the church, some got ice from the ice machine for themselves and others, some cooled their pets, and a week later some still are.

Shiloh UMC Ministers at Parkview Mission

Again Shiloh UMC was minstering at Parkview Mission. Charlene Gallaher played piano, while Glen Garrison, Rev. Phil Showers, the pastor at Parkview Mission, Harry Spruce, and Fran Keeler led folks in a Gospel sing-a-long. 

The food is prepared and everyone is waiting in the kitchen to start serving after the devotions and prayer.

Fianally, time to start serving, the best part of the evening. I take my usual place serving deviled eggs. We had a very big croud for dinner. Dinner was served, seconds were provided, and take home boxes were supplied. There was not a morsel left.
This is ministry.

VAUMC Annual Conference 2012

Well, its June, must be time for the Virginia United methodist Annual Conference. It was in Roanoke, VA again this year. Joanne and I took our usual seats at the far end of the Civic Center. The biggest complaint this year was how cold the place was. It seemed like most of the heavy issues were dealt with at the General Conference that had been in Tampa a few months earlier, so we were spared having to listen a lot of the arguments one way or the other this year.

We always enjoy being at Annual Conference for the Licensing and Ordination service. Below is the Licensing of the Local Pastors.

We were joined by our friends George and Kathy Schaeffer. We try and get together during Conference, since it seems its one of the few times our schedules can work.

We had several firends being ordained this year. Above is Jacob Sahms and below is Craig Newman.
This year was shorter than most years and it ran on different days than normal. The year our Bishop Charlene Kammerer retired, this would be her last Annual Conference. We should find out sometime in July about our new Bishop.

Annual Conference can be a nuisance, at its worst tense and frustrating. But there are things that I wouldn't want to miss; Licensing and Ordination, Recogition of Retiring Pastors, the Memorial Service for Deceased Pators and Pastor's Spouses, and of course, seeing friends that you get to see all too infrequently. See you next year in Hampton VA.